Minority Groups in World War II

The following passage from pages
187-190 of Selective Service and Victory: The 4th Report of the Director
of Selective Service (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1948) represents
the best statistical information available to the US Army Center of Military
History to answer questions about the participation of various minority groups
in the armed forces of the United States during the Second World War. Note carefully
which of these statistics cover those minorities drafted into the armed forces
and which include personnel who voluntarily enlisted. Statistics are extremely
difficult to compile since contemporary classifications and the Army's interest
in data rarely match modern interests.

[page 187]

Minority Groups

Another special problem of great
importance in Selective Service operations was the mobilization of Negro registrants
and other minority groups of this nature. The main difficulty here was securing
the induction of men who were found (1) to be available by the System and (2)
to be qualified by the armed forces physical examination. There were, of course,
other problems as evidenced by the following treatment of the matter for the
period extending from July 1, 1944 through December 31, 1945.

One Million Negro Inductions

Negroes were an important source
of manpower for the armed forces in World War II as is shown by the fact that
a total of 1,056,841 Negro registrants were inducted into the armed forces through
Selective Service as od December 31, 1945. Of these, 885,945 went into the Army,
153,224 into the Navy, 16,005 into the Marine Corps, and 1,667 into the Coast
Guard. These Negro inductees made up 10.9 percent of all registrants inducted
into the Army (8,108,531), 10.0 percent of all inductions into the Navy (1,526,250),
8.5 percent of all Marine Corps inductions (188,709) and 10.9 percent of all
Coast Guard inductions (15,235). Thus Negroes, who constituted approximately
11.0 percent of all registrants liable for service, furnished approximately
this proportion of the inductees in all branches of the service except the Marine
Corps.

Negro Inductions After July 1, 1944

During the period July 1, 1944-December
31, 1945, 141,294 Negroes were inducted, comprising 9.6 percent of all inductions
(1,469,808) therein. Of this number 103,360 went into the Army, which was 9.1
percent of all Army inductions (1,132,962). The Navy received 36,616 Negroes,
or 11.6 percent of its inductees (316,215). The 1,309 Negroes going into the
Marine Corps were 6.4 percent of Marine Corps inductions (20,563). Only 9 Negroes
were inducted into the Coast Guard, but this was 13.2 percent of the inductees
for this branch of service (68).

The somewhat lower proportion
of Negro inductions during this period was principally due to the proportionately
lower calls made upon Selective Service for Negro registrants. The Negro

[page 188]

call for 18 months was only 135,600,
or 8.3 percent of the total call (1,639,100).

[page 189]

Inductions of Other Minority Groups

Inductions into the Army of Selective
Service registrants from other racial and nationality groups up to December
31, 1945, included 13,311 Chinese, 20,080 Japanese, 1,320 Hawaiians, 19,567
American Indians, 11,506 Filipinos, and 51,438 Puerto Ricans. Counting enlistments
and those in the Enlisted Reserve Corps, a total of 24,085 Japanese-Americans
had either enlisted or been inducted into the Army by December 31, 1945. Similar
statistics are not available for the naval services. Also by June 30, 1945,
a total of 125,880 aliens of various nationalities had enlisted or been inducted
into the Army and Navy. The increased proportion of inductions of Japanese-Americans
during the two 6-months periods from July 1, 1944, to June 30, 1945, is indicated
in Table 35. Beginning January 14, 1944, registrants who were natural-born United
States citizens of Japanese extraction or parentage were subject to induction
in the Army after the War Department had determined in each case that the registrant
was acceptable.

Negro Enlistments

From December 1942 until VJ-day
there were relatively few enlistments into the armed forces as restrictions
against the direct recruiting of men in the age group acceptable for service
(18-37) were in effect. There were, however, 483,605 other enlistments into
the Army and Navy during the period July 1, 1944, to June 30, 1945, but only
1.3 percent were Negroes (Table 36). Although Negroes constitute approximately
11 percent of the population, aged 18 through 37, only 0.8 percent of Army enlistees
and 1.4 percent

[page 190]

of Navy enlistees during the period
July 1, 1944, to June 30, 1945, were of that race. The reasons why relatively
few Negroes enlisted during World war II were numerous. The principal one, however,
was the severe restrictions placed against Negro enlistments by the armed forces,
which, in some periods, amounted to complete prohibition."

TABLE 35 [page 189]

Army inductions by race, July
1, 1944-December 31, 1945 United States and Territories